MARK RUBERY CHESS

The following is a rare portrait of Bobby Fischer, given by the owner of an Icelandic book store frequented the former American world champion. “I had just finished putting aside books for him when I heard the news of his passing” says Bragi Kristjónsson book-store owner, but Bobby Fischer was a regular guest at his store on the Klapparstígur. “He most enjoyed old American comics and laughed alot when he read them.” Bragi says he also read stories of men who had been chased away from their countries but you could say Bobby himself was in the same position. “He also thought a lot about chess even though he wouldn’t admit it and when I got Russian books on chess he was quick to purchase them.” says Bragi and adds that Fischer spoke and read fluent Russian. “He didn’t show any Icelandic any interested because everyone here speaks English anyway. He often talked to kids outside the store and they had no problem understanding him.” According to Bragi did Bobby even occasionally played chess with the kids outside the store.

Soon after he came to Iceland he started coming to the store. “He saw the book-store as a certain shield from the environment. Particularly first after he arrived there were foreign news stations with a camera crew outside looking for him. I remember for example a Russian news station that came here with five cameramen. They had heard he was a frequent guest at the store and they waited here for days hoping for him to show!”

According to Bragi Fischer felt comfortable within the stacks of books. “He was so calm in here that sometimes he fell asleep over the books and slept for hours. He also sometimes helped me organize the book stacks that are all over the place. Fischer was of course not like other people” says Bragi. “He was a little obsessed with the fact that he was an outlaw and prosecuted by Americans, but of course the treatment the Americans gave him was a complete disgrace.”